Choline kinase alpha 2 acts as a protein kinase to promote lipolysis of lipid droplets

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Increase in the Thermic Effect of Food in Women by Adrenergic Amines Extracted from Citrus Aurantium

Objective: To compare the thermic response to a meal between men and women of varied body composition and to determine whether adrenergic amines extracted from citrus aurantium (CA) induce an increase in metabolic rate and enhance the thermic response to the meal. Research Methods and Procedures: In 30 healthy weight‐stable subjects (17 women, 13 men; BMI: 20 to 42 kg/m²), body composition was determined by bioimpedance analysis followed by resting energy expenditure for 20 minutes, and the thermic effect of food (TEF) of a 1.7‐MJ, 30‐gram protein meal was determined intermittently for 300 minutes by indirect calorimetry. In a subset of 22 subjects, the TEFs of CA alone and when added to the same 1.7‐MJ meal were determined. Blood pressure and pulse before and throughout the studies and catecholamine excretion were determined. Results: TEF was significantly lower in women than men (152 ± 7 vs. 190 ± 12 kJ and 8.8 ± 0.4% vs. 11.0 ± 0.7% of meal), independently of age and magnitude of adiposity. The thermic response to CA alone was higher in men, but, when added to the meal, CA increased TEF only in women and to values no longer different from men. CA had no effect on blood pressure and pulse rate but increased epinephrine excretion by 2.4‐fold. Discussion: A 20% lower TEF in women suggests a diminished sympathetic nervous system response to meals, because with CA, TEF increased by 29% only in women. However, this acute response may not translate into a chronic effect or a clinically significant weight loss over time.     

Removal and Inactivation of Staphylococcus epidermidis Biofilms by Electrolysis

Bacterial biofilms were exposed to electrolysis by making the steel substratum an electrode in a circuit including a 6-V battery. These treatments resulted in killing (2.1-log reduction) and removal (4.0-log reduction) of viable cells at the anode and cathode, respectively, within a few minutes.     

Matching roots to their environment

Background

Plants form the base of the terrestrial food chain and provide medicines, fuel, fibre and industrial materials to humans. Vascular land plants rely on their roots to acquire the water and mineral elements necessary for their survival in nature or their yield and nutritional quality in agriculture. Major biogeochemical fluxes of all elements occur through plant roots, and the roots of agricultural crops have a significant role to play in soil sustainability, carbon sequestration, reducing emissions of greenhouse gasses, and in preventing the eutrophication of water bodies associated with the application of mineral fertilizers.

Scope

This article provides the context for a Special Issue of Annals of Botany on ‘Matching Roots to Their Environment’. It first examines how land plants and their roots evolved, describes how the ecology of roots and their rhizospheres contributes to the acquisition of soil resources, and discusses the influence of plant roots on biogeochemical cycles. It then describes the role of roots in overcoming the constraints to crop production imposed by hostile or infertile soils, illustrates root phenotypes that improve the acquisition of mineral elements and water, and discusses high-throughput methods to screen for these traits in the laboratory, glasshouse and field. Finally, it considers whether knowledge of adaptations improving the acquisition of resources in natural environments can be used to develop root systems for sustainable agriculture in the future.     

Notes on the reproductive biology of brachiopods from southern New Zealand

Abstract

The gonads of Notosaria nigricans, Terebratella inconspicua, T. ronguinea, Liothyrella neozelanica. and Neothyris ienticuiaris from southern New Zealand are described and their breeding state is determined. Attempts to induce spawning were not successful even with individuals that appdatred ripe. Sinlce normal fertilisation did not take place even with stripped gametes, it is concluded that either the brachiopods examined were not fully ripe or some indeterminate factor was inhibiting normal development of the zygotes.     

The floral transition is not the developmental switch that confers competence for the Arabidopsis age-related resistance response to Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato

Age-related resistance (ARR) is a plant defense response characterized by enhanced resistance to certain pathogens in mature plants relative to young plants. In Arabidopsis thaliana the transition to flowering is associated with ARR competence, suggesting that this developmental event is the switch that initiates ARR competence in mature plants (Rusterucci et al. in Physiol Mol Plant Pathol 66:222–231, 2005). The association of ARR and the floral transition was examined using flowering-time mutants and photoperiod-induced flowering to separate flowering from other developmental events that occur as plants age. Under short-day conditions, late-flowering plant lines ld-1 (luminidependens-1), soc1-2 (suppressor of overexpression of co 1-2), and FRI ⁺ (FRIGIDA) displayed ARR before the transition to flowering occurred. Early-flowering svp-31, svp-32 (short vegetative phase), and Ws-2 were ARR-defective, whereas early-flowering tfl1-14 (terminal flower 1-14) displayed ARR at the same time as Col-0. While svp-31, svp-32 and Ws-2 produced few rosette leaves, tfl1-14 produced a rosette leaf number similar to Col-0, suggesting that the development of a minimum number of rosette leaves is necessary to initiate ARR competence under short-day conditions. Photoperiod-induced transient expression of FT (FLOWERING LOCUS T) caused precocious flowering in short-day-grown Col-0 but this was not associated with ARR competence. Under long-day conditions co-9 (constans-9) mutants did not flower but displayed an ARR response at the same time as Col-0. This study suggests that SVP is required for the ARR response and that the floral transition is not the developmental event that regulates ARR competence.     

Azetidines and spiro azetidines as novel P2 units in hepatitis C virus NS3 protease inhibitors

Herein, we report the synthesis and structure–activity relationship studies of new analogs of boceprevir 1 and telaprevir 2. Introduction of azetidine and spiroazetidines as a P2 substituent that replaced the pyrrolidine moiety of 1 and 2 led to the discovery of a potent hepatitis C protease inhibitor 37c (EC₅₀ = 0.8 μM).     

Embryos,polyps and medusae of the Early Cambrian scyphozoan Olivooides

The Early Cambrian organism Olivooides is known from both embryonic and post-embryonic stages and, consequently, it has the potential to yield vital insights into developmental evolution at the time that animal body plans were established. However, this potential can only be realized if the phylogenetic relationships of Olivooides can be constrained. The affinities of Olivooides have proved controversial because of the lack of knowledge of the internal anatomy and the limited range of developmental stages known. Here, we describe rare embryonic specimens in which internal anatomical features are preserved. We also present a fuller sequence of fossilized developmental stages of Olivooides, including associated specimens that we interpret as budding ephyrae (juvenile medusae), all of which display a clear pentaradial symmetry. Within the framework of a cnidarian interpretation, the new data serve to pinpoint the phylogenetic position of Olivooides to the scyphozoan stem group. Hypotheses about scalidophoran or echinoderm affinities of Olivooides can be rejected.     

Identification of the Components of a Glycolytic Enzyme Metabolon on the Human Red Blood Cell Membrane

Glycolytic enzymes (GEs) have been shown to exist in multienzyme complexes on the inner surface of the human erythrocyte membrane. Because no protein other than band 3 has been found to interact with GEs, and because several GEs do not bind band 3, we decided to identify the additional membrane proteins that serve as docking sites for GE on the membrane. For this purpose, a method known as “label transfer” that employs a photoactivatable trifunctional cross-linking reagent to deliver a biotin from a derivatized GE to its binding partner on the membrane was used. Mass spectrometry analysis of membrane proteins that were biotinylated following rebinding and photoactivation of labeled GAPDH, aldolase, lactate dehydrogenase, and pyruvate kinase revealed not only the anticipated binding partner, band 3, but also the association of GEs with specific peptides in α- and β-spectrin, ankyrin, actin, p55, and protein 4.2. More importantly, the labeled GEs were also found to transfer biotin to other GEs in the complex, demonstrating for the first time that GEs also associate with each other in their membrane complexes. Surprisingly, a new GE binding site was repeatedly identified near the junction of the membrane-spanning and cytoplasmic domains of band 3, and this binding site was confirmed by direct binding studies. These results not only identify new components of the membrane-associated GE complexes but also provide molecular details on the specific peptides that form the interfacial contacts within each interaction.